Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Hanlins!

I had to lead with this photo of Ezmaralda. She was lying next to a pumpkin and I thought it was so Halloweeny and cute... but very early in the morning and dark... 

LOVE how the flash reflected off her eyes. This was not planned.

My evil witchy cat. Love her.

Here is Ann the Diva Witch...

  

Eve the Pirate~

 My tall ladies together...

 The Queen and the Drone~ bzzzt.

and harvest time... Eve's gourds

  and pumpkins

 Last of the zucchini~

 Lotsa beets~

  and I leave you with my man, being silly on his birthday. 

Posing as Farmer Paul, the Happy Man and his farm... love this man.

Pinterest Addiction?

LOVE Pinterest.
I am totally addicted and I am here to get you hooked also.
That's me, the enabler. >:)

So what IS it you ask? An online bulletin board. Where you can search any topic for inspiration and eye candy. THEN you can add friends and share your pins and boards and get even MORE inspiration. AND waste a ton of time if you are not careful.  I have done this for years, bookmarked pages that I loved or ideas of things to make, etc. etc. Now I can have it all saved in one place, so really, it saves me time, .... right? (grin)

Go. Now. Join. 
Then come and friend me. (Click for a link to my Pinterest page)
Here is a screen shot of one of my boards...

 (click each image to see a larger version)

Here are two shots of the state of my studio this morning. This is after a paint-fit.

Off to clean up, Jackie is on her way to make MORE mess with me.

Halloween Spray Painted Jars~

Last week Jackie sent me a link to a DIY for spray painted jars... So our play day project was just that.

She made yarn wrapped jars which came out cute, and I decided to do some super tacky Halloween themed jars.... jack o' lantern and black cats!

First step was to mask off part of the jar. I used simple making tape and drew my design on with pencil. I cut the features I wanted masked off with an exacto knife and peeled away the excess tape.

We then took the jars outside and spray painted them. I think they each got three light coats total. We sprayed until they looked covered. No exact science here.

The black cat jars got a coat of matte black (which I love love LOVE), and the jacks? Some got a coat of orange then neon-pinkish orange, and the rest just the neon. This pinkish orange fluorescent/neon color makes me weak in the knees.

Once they were dry I peeled the making tape off, put votives in and lit them. MEH.
Not so spectacular. The features were lost on the pumpkins and the cats just disappeared. duh. Black jars don't really glow that much. (no pics of this step, I sort of had a mini-tantrum).

Next day my brain kicked in and I decided to paint the Jack's featured black. I used acrylic, which will probably peel off at some point. Not so worried about this as they are not handled much. A sharpie marker may work better? I will try that if the paint peels off.

The cat jars got a layer of white gesso inside. WORKED! yay.  

Once lit, the effect is a bit woozy, which is just perfect!

This moment~ Oct. 14, 2011

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

(inspired by SouleMama)

. . . . . . . .

Bunny in the chicken pen!

Page Progression~ "Do What You Love" Travel Journal

 Worked on a few pages in my "do what you love" journal... (blogged about here)~ 

You can click on any image to see a larger version~

 The cover page was a bit short on the right side, so I wanted to add something to extend it a bit...

 What better than a yarn sample card?

 I cut it down to fit and taped it in place... perfect!

Here is what it looks like on the back of the page.

 After journaling and adding some more collage elements~

Do What You Love Travel Journal~

A few weeks ago I took a leap and signed up for Beth Nicholl's Do What You Love ecourse.

I seem to be in some sort of creative limbo lately so I thought some thinking would do me good.

I wanted to truly focus on the lessons, not just read through them, so I created myself a "Travel Journal" (as Beth calls it in class) to reflect and write in...

Book measures about 9x12 ish and is PINK and ORANGE! 

My all-time-fav color combo.

You can click on any image to see a larger version~

Front is pink, Back cover is orange... :)

I used my super-awesome neon pink gaffer's tape for the spine.

The covers are from empty book covers Jackie and I found at Scrap in Portland.

The pages are my art papers, scrapbook paper and stuff from my stash.

Bound ala Mary Ann Moss's Full Tilt Boogie class techniques.

Here are shots of me paging through the book before I have done any art or writing in it...

Front cover page...

 Back cover page...

One Little Word Journal 2011~ Be

   After moving to the farm last October, we decided we needed to take some time to breathe a bit, to nest in here and to just BE, and focus on what direction we were to take next.
Finding this place and the events that enabled us to purchase it were nothing short of magical.
There is an energy here that is purely spiritual, and everyone who visits feels it.

When I saw Ali Edwards "One Little Word" class I knew this was an awesome way for me to slow down and focus on that magic and the word I chose  for 2011 is "BE"~

The material list for the class recommended a beautiful album with plastic insert pages. I could not bring myself to buy it, (too match match for me) so I decided to make myself a book instead...

I am a bit behind on the monthly assignments... still on February (ha), but I have read each monthly assignment and they are percolating...

You can click on any image to see a larger version~

Today I completed the cover decor...  LOVE the book. 

Made from a random photography book I scored at the local Goodwill Outlet.

I disassembled it, used the cover and bound it ala Mary Ann Moss 

using papers from my stash (my painted papers, folders, and scrapbook papers)

  Close up of the image on the cover... 

Photo is of me at about 7yo feeding the ducks at some farm/park in PA

... note the cat by my side (not my critters)...

BEing very zen... 

 The cover page is a photo of me that got all weird and neon in the printer... (happy accident) 

Over a page from my precious Rex Ray calendar from last year.

  January assignment pages...

There is  3D bee in my hair... real punny!

  Close up of fabric on the spine... scrap of Ikea fabric. 

I serged the edges then glued it over the book spine.

  Book cover laying open (facing down) so you can see the entire cover...

  I used some of my painted manilla folders from my Free Range Journal stash...

note the "people" paper snowflake from last winter...

  Some "before" pages...